Visual Language and Reason: The Late-'Long'-Eighteen Century 1769-1837 11 November 2014

The advent of Neo-Classical style was considered as true style.  French and British Neo-Classicism differed and an example of this is the work of Robert Adam who designed whole rooms which unified the space and had ancient Roman elements.

Robert Adam Interior

fig: 1 http://mcavoyanddaughters.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dining-room-saltram-house-by-robert-adam.jpg



French Neo-Classical art was based on ancient Roman imagery down to the costume and weapons they would have used.

scene from Book I of the Iliad

fig: 2 http://www.quia.com/files/quia/users/horace/Achilles---French-Neoclassical.jpg

The French believed that they were the embodiment of Ancient Rome.

We looked further at Classical and Romantic art and are tasked to compare the one with the other.

An example of French Classical art, below, shows how the artist is addressing Rome.

Cornelia Presenting Her Children as Her Treasures

Painting by Angelica Kauffmann 1785

 fig: 3 https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSp2p96hK_5Bb09BejpR5smPN5W95teTQ36zKbc2-i-O-lAnTem

and http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/kauffmanns-cornelia-presenting-her-children-as-her-treasures.html

The painting above has the figures dressed in togas and sandals with Roman architectural pillars in the background.  It tells the story of Cornelia showing her children as treasures as apposed to the jewellery the visitor is exhibiting.

Periods of life

by Caspar David Friedrich

fig:4 http://www.kingsacademy.com/mhodges/11_Western-Art/20_Early-19th-Century-Romanticism/Friedrich/Friedrich_1834-5_Periods-of-Life.jpg 

and http://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/the-stages-of-life-by-caspar-david-friedrich/

The image above shows a Romantic style of painting.  It is  believed that the artist has depicted the stages of his life and the ships in the background represent his parents moving away to discover life.  Other members of his family are represented in the children and the artist himself is the old man at the front of the work.  The Swedish flag held by the children may be just a reference to the fact that the area Utkiek was Swedish before it became Prussian and the artist is looking in that direction as that is the area of his birth.  It is painted at dusk also suggesting some kind of end.